JP2007178639A - Image forming apparatus, option apparatus and image forming system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system with a secondary battery in an image forming apparatus which is charged using a counterelectromotive force or regenerative electric power in an actuator of the apparatus and which assists a power source according to an action state of the apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: A control part 100 refers to voltage in a secondary battery at a timing for turning an action on or off for a load 101 which is the actuator and decides whether to switch between charging of counterelectromotive force or regenerative electric power for the secondary battery and discharging from the secondary battery. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording medium, an optional apparatus that is connected to the image forming apparatus and adds a function, and an image forming system that includes the image forming apparatus and the optional apparatus. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an optional apparatus, and an image forming system that are characterized by charging / discharging of a secondary battery disposed in the apparatus or system.

  In an image forming system that is connected to a conventional image forming apparatus and an optional apparatus, such as a paper discharge finisher or a paper feed feeder, power is taken out from an AC power line and consumed at an arbitrary timing. For example, AC power can be used from an outlet installed on the wall of the room, and each AC power line is set with an allowable current. When the power exceeds the allowable value on the AC power line, a switchboard, etc. The power supply is cut off by a breaker disposed in the circuit. For example, when an electrical device is connected to one AC power line from the switchboard via a plurality of outlets, each electrical device operates at an arbitrary timing. Or, when an electrical component having a large inrush current is energized, such as a heater that requires a large amount of power, a sudden change in power may be caused. In the worst case, the breaker may suddenly operate and the power supply may be cut off.

  Therefore, a method of reducing the burden on the AC power supply line due to inrush current by using a large capacity capacitor or an electric double layer capacitor which is a secondary battery has been adopted. There is an example in which each device does not perform image formation, sheet conveyance processing, or finishing processing, and the above-described secondary battery or the like is charged in a state where the power load is relatively small to cope with the inrush current. For example, as a conventional example, in the image forming apparatus described in Patent Document 1 (page 14, FIG. 3), an electric double layer capacitor is used as an auxiliary power source when a fixing heater energized for fixing an image on a sheet is started. There are examples.

  Also, as described in Patent Document 2 (page 6, Fig. 5), the back electromotive force generated when the inductive load such as a motor is stopped and the regenerative power when the motor continues to rotate with inertial force are collected. There are also examples of consumption for ensuring safety or application to actuator operation.

JP 2004-286869 A Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 6-19017

  However, in the conventional example, the former is an auxiliary power source in which the electric double layer capacitor is charged only by power supply from the AC line that is the power supply source. Not using power.

  In the latter case, the back electromotive force when the switch that is turned on / off in conjunction with the operation part of the device is turned off or the regenerative power generated by the motor inertia rotation after being turned off is consumed for ensuring safety. It is only used for.

  Accordingly, the present invention provides a secondary battery such as an electric double layer capacitor in the image forming apparatus and the optional device, and charges back electromotive force and regenerative power of the motor, solenoid, etc. in the device, and It is an object to make it possible to assist the power supply according to the operating state.

  Another object is to enable efficient charging and discharging by monitoring the voltage when charging or discharging the secondary battery.

  The present invention is provided between a secondary battery and an actuator, switching means for switching between charging of the back electromotive force or regenerative power from the actuator to the secondary battery and discharging from the secondary battery, Control means for controlling the switching means according to the state of charge of the secondary battery and the operating state of the actuator is provided.

  According to the present invention, the back electromotive force and regenerative power of the actuator installed in each device can be charged to the secondary battery, and discharged when necessary, thereby reducing the power load at the time of starting the actuator of each device, It becomes possible to collect and reuse the power that has been consumed.

  Further, according to the present invention, the energization state of the actuator can be detected, and the secondary battery can be charged with the back electromotive force and regenerative power from the load at an appropriate timing according to the result. In addition, by determining the state of charge of the secondary battery, the back electromotive force from the load can be efficiently regenerated to the power source when the secondary battery is not charged. Further, the discharge timing can be determined from the energized state of the actuator, and the power of the secondary battery can be effectively charged and discharged.

  Furthermore, according to the present invention, the state of charge of the secondary battery can be detected from the voltage value, and it can be determined whether charging and discharging are possible according to the result, and the secondary battery can be used efficiently. Can do.

  Further, according to the present invention, the voltage of the secondary battery is confirmed at the time of charging or discharging, and if necessary, the voltage of the electric power recovered before charging is increased or the voltage of the electric power at the time of discharging is increased. This enables efficient charging and discharging according to the voltage of the secondary battery.

  Furthermore, according to the present invention, by using a secondary battery as an electric double layer capacitor, stable charge and discharge can be performed, and an apparatus using a long-life electric double layer capacitor can be provided.

Example 1
Example 1 in the present invention will be described below.

  FIG. 1 shows an outline view and a cross-sectional view of an image forming apparatus 1 and a paper discharge device 2 that is an optional device.

  Reference numeral 3 in the image forming apparatus 1 shows a power supply unit and a control unit for controlling the entire image forming apparatus as a whole. The power supply unit supplies power to the following components. That is, motors 4 and 5, an optical unit for image formation, a scanner unit 6 including a laser, a reflection mirror, and a motor, and a stapler 7 that performs post-staple processing with a needle in the paper discharge device 2. Then, power is supplied to the solenoid 8 in the image forming apparatus 1. The power supply unit supplies power to the paper discharge control unit 9 that performs control in the paper discharge device 2.

  A plurality of sheets 10 are stacked in a cassette of the image forming apparatus 1. The sheet 10 reaches a registration unit 14 that adjusts the posture of the sheet 10 through a pickup roller 11 that kicks out the sheet 10 during image formation, a feed retard roller 12 that separates one sheet, and a conveying roller pair 13. The pickup timing of the sheet 10 from the cassette is the suction timing of the solenoid 8, and the motors 4 and 5 and the motor in the scanner unit 6 are started before that. The motors 4 and 5 and the motors and solenoids 8 in the scanner unit 6 are driven when the sheet 10 is conveyed and image formation is performed, and the number is not limited to that in this embodiment. The motor drives members necessary for image formation on a plurality of rollers and sheets in the image forming apparatus 1.

  The sheet 10 reaching the registration unit 14 is adjusted in posture and reaches the photosensitive drum and the transfer roller 15, where the toner supplied from the image forming unit 16 is transferred onto the sheet 10 and conveyed to the fixing unit 17. The

  In the fixing unit 17, an image is pressure-fixed on the sheet 10, and the sheet 10 passes through a pair of paper discharge rollers 18. When the sheets are discharged and stacked in the image forming apparatus 1 with the image forming surface facing down, the sheets are discharged and stacked on the sheet discharge tray 20. When transporting to the paper discharge device 2, the controller 9 in the paper discharge device 2 drives the solenoid 21 to operate the path switching flapper member 19 to pull in the sheet, and the roller pair 22, roller 23, roller pair The sheet is conveyed into the alignment member 25 via 24.

  The posture and position of the sheet conveyed into the alignment member 25 are adjusted by the alignment motor 26. After a predetermined number of sheets are stacked in the aligning member 25, staples that are stapled by the stapler 7 are performed on these sheets.

  The stapled sheet bundle is discharged from the aligning member 25 and stacked on the stack discharge tray 28 like a sheet bundle 27 shown in the drawing.

  The image forming data on the sheet 10, the number of sheets, and the presence / absence of a stapling instruction are transmitted from a host (PC), which is an external information device (not shown), and received by the image forming apparatus 1 for processing. There is no particular limitation on the configuration.

  FIG. 2 shows an electrical block diagram in the present embodiment. The configuration of this block diagram is arranged in the image forming apparatus 1 or the paper discharge apparatus 2. However, the arrangement is not particularly limited, and the back electromotive force or regenerative power generated by the inductive load can be charged. Such a secondary battery can be placed inside and outside the device.

  Reference numeral 100 denotes a control unit that controls the drive circuit unit 102 of the load 101. A power supply unit 103 supplies power to the image forming apparatus 1 or the paper discharge apparatus 2. The control unit 100 constitutes a control unit of the unit 3. The power supply unit 103 and the charge / discharge unit 104 constitute a power supply unit in the unit 3. The load 101 corresponds to the motor and solenoid shown in FIG.

  A charging / discharging unit 104 includes a secondary battery and charges or discharges electric power. In this embodiment, the charging / discharging unit 104 includes an electric circuit including an electric double layer capacitor as a secondary battery.

  As indicated by dotted lines and arrows from the control unit 100, control signal lines are connected to the control circuit unit 102 and the charge / discharge unit 104. In addition, the power supply lines indicated by solid lines are connected to each other between the load 101 and the drive circuit 102, between the power supply unit 103 and the charge / discharge unit 104 and the drive circuit 102, and between the drive circuit 102 and the charge / discharge unit 104. Has been.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an electric circuit configuration having the contents shown in the block diagram of FIG.

  The control unit 100 includes a central processing unit (CPU), and is configured by a one-chip microcomputer in this embodiment. The CPU of the control unit 100 executes control of the image forming apparatus according to a program written in a built-in nonvolatile memory (ROM). The CPU of the control unit 100 uses a built-in volatile memory (RAM) as a work area for control. The CPU 100 of the control unit 100 also includes an I / O port for inputting and outputting signals inside and outside the image forming apparatus. This I / O port is connected to the drive circuit unit 102 that controls the load 101. The control unit 100 also performs sheet conveyance control to the paper discharge device 2 that is an optional device.

  The CPU of the control unit 100 is not limited to the one in which all the functions are mounted on one chip as in this embodiment, but has a circuit configuration in which an IC having a ROM or RAM function is mounted on the control unit and its periphery. Can be processed, and the configuration is not particularly limited to one chip.

  The secondary battery 107 corresponds to the charging / discharging unit 104 in FIG. 2 and is disposed in the power supply unit 3 shown in FIG. However, the installation location is not particularly limited, and it may be disposed outside the power supply unit 3 or outside the image forming apparatus 1, and there is no limitation on the apparatus configuration.

  Reference numeral 106 denotes a switching element in the drive circuit unit 102 of the load 101. 108 is turned on when 106 changes from on to off, and charges the secondary battery 107 in the charging / discharging unit 104 with the back electromotive force from the solenoid load 101. Alternatively, 108 is a switching element such as an FET that is turned on when the secondary battery 107 is charged from the power supply unit 103 and enables this charging.

  Reference numeral 109 denotes a switching element such as an FET that is turned on when the secondary battery 107 is discharged.

  110 is a switching element such as an FET for regenerating the back electromotive force generated in the solenoid load 101 to the power supply unit 103 when the secondary battery 107 is not charged by the charge / discharge unit 104. The power is regenerated in 103.

  106, 108, and 109 are only required to be able to set the on / off state, and therefore, these may be switches and FETs, and are not particularly limited.

  111, 112 and 113 are diodes. An inverter circuit 114 inverts the output of the CPU of the control unit 100 and operates to turn off 110 when the 108 is on, and to turn on 110 when the 108 is off. Is.

  Reference numerals 115 to 120 (a, b) denote switching elements such as the above-described transistors and FETs, and resistors for current limitation and voltage setting connected to the IC.

  When the load 101 is driven by the power supplied from the power supply unit 103, the CPU of the control unit 100 sets the output signal / BAT_IN set in the output port to a high state, turns off 108, and turns on 110. Thereafter, the output signal DRV set in the output port is set to the high state, and 106 is turned on. A current flows through the load 101 and is in a driving state.

  Whether the secondary battery 107 is charged and can hold a sufficient voltage is determined as follows. That is, the voltage of the secondary battery 107 can be input at the input terminal AD_V of the CPU of the control unit 100 and A / D (analog to digital) conversion can be performed in the CPU of the control unit 100 to be held in the CPU of the control unit 100. Use voltage data. The held voltage data is determined by comparing with predetermined voltage data stored in the ROM of the CPU of the control unit 100. As a result, when it is determined that the secondary battery 107 is not charged to a predetermined voltage, the following is performed. That is, before the back electromotive force is generated after the solenoid load 101 is turned off, the CPU output signal / BAT_IN of the control unit 100 is set to the low state, 108 is turned on, and 110 is turned off. Thus, after the load 101 is turned off, the back electromotive force generated in the load 101 is charged to the secondary battery 107 via 108.

  When the control unit 100 determines that the secondary battery 107 is sufficiently charged, the CPU output signal / BAT_IN of the control unit 100 is maintained in the high state even after the load 101 is turned off, and the control unit 100 is turned off. 110 are turned on. Thereby, after the load 101 is turned off, the back electromotive force generated in the load 101 is regenerated in the power supply unit 103.

  Further, in a state where the secondary battery 107 is sufficiently charged, when a short inrush current occurs when the motors of the image forming apparatus 1 and the paper discharge apparatus 2 are activated, the power supply unit 103 can be assisted as follows. it can. That is, the control unit 100 can supply the discharge current from the secondary battery 107 to the load 101 via the diode 117 by changing the output signal / BAT_OUT from the High state to the Low state and turning the 109 on state. . Further, a discharge current can be supplied from the secondary battery 107 to the motor of the image forming apparatus 1 or the paper discharge apparatus 2. For example, the stapler 7 of the paper discharge device 2 that is an optional device may use a DC motor, and since the inrush current immediately after energization is large, the power supply unit 103 is assisted by the discharge from the 107 secondary battery. Is possible.

(Example 2)
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

  FIG. 4 shows an electric block diagram in the embodiment of the present invention. The configuration of this block diagram is arranged in the image forming apparatus 1 or the paper discharge apparatus 2. However, the arrangement is not particularly limited, and the back electromotive force or regenerative power generated by the inductive load is charged. A possible secondary battery can be arranged inside and outside the device. Further, the feature of this embodiment is that the booster 105 is provided, and the other configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The boosting unit 105 increases the voltage when the voltage of the secondary battery 107 is equal to or lower than a predetermined voltage when the electric power from the charging / discharging unit 104 is supplied to the drive circuit unit 102.

  As indicated by dotted lines and arrows from the control unit 100, control signal lines are connected to the control circuit unit 102, the charging / discharging unit 104, and the boosting unit 105. The power supply lines indicated by solid lines are connected to each other among the load 101, the drive circuit 102, the power supply unit 103, the charge / discharge unit 104, and the booster unit 105.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an electric circuit configuration having the contents shown in the block diagram of FIG. The booster 105 is added to the electric circuit configuration shown in FIG. 3, and the output port of the signal name CON is added to the CPU of the controller 100. The configurations from 100 to 120 (a, b) are shown in FIG. The configuration is the same.

  Reference numeral 121 denotes a converter IC for increasing the voltage to a predetermined value when the secondary battery 107 is discharged. The converter IC 121 detects the voltage state of the secondary battery 107 by performing A / D conversion at the input terminal AD_V of the control unit 100, and can discharge even when the voltage is equal to or lower than a predetermined voltage. That is, even when the voltage of the secondary battery 107 is equal to or lower than the predetermined voltage, when discharging is performed, the converter IC 121 outputs High as a boost instruction using the output signal CON of the CPU of the control unit 100. As a result, converter IC 121 operates to turn on / off coils 122 and 123 and increase the voltage of secondary battery 107 with diode 124, and increase it to a predetermined voltage V_BAT or higher with voltage feedback input V_IN. Then, the power is smoothed by the capacitor 125 and supplied to the drive circuit unit 102 to assist the power supply unit 103 of the image forming apparatus 1 and the paper discharge apparatus 2.

  Reference numerals 126, 127, and 128 denote current limiting resistors, which are set to predetermined values.

  When the voltage of the secondary battery 107 is equal to or higher than the predetermined voltage V_BAT and the voltage value is sufficiently secured according to the detection result in the control unit 100, the output signal CON of the control unit 100 is set to Low output. As a result, the converter IC 121 does not operate, and the booster 105 can be discharged without increasing the voltage. When the control unit 100 detects that the power supply voltage of the secondary battery 107 has become lower than the predetermined voltage V_BAT after the start of discharging, the control unit 100 boosts the converter IC 121 with the output signal CON as described above. High output is performed as an instruction. As a result, the converter IC 121 can be operated to increase the discharge voltage to a predetermined voltage V_BAT or higher.

  The method of boosting is not particularly limited to the above-described content. It is also possible to configure with other configuration ICs and other electrical components.

(Example 3)
A third embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

  FIG. 6 shows an electric block diagram in the embodiment of the present invention. The configuration of this block diagram is arranged in the image forming apparatus 1 or the paper discharge apparatus 2. However, the arrangement is not particularly limited, and the back electromotive force or regenerative power generated by the inductive load is charged. A possible secondary battery can be arranged inside and outside the device.

  The present embodiment is characterized in that, when the power from the drive circuit unit 102 is charged to the charging / discharging unit 104, if the back electromotive force or regenerative power is equal to or lower than a predetermined voltage, the voltage is raised by the boosting unit 105. And As a result, the secondary battery 107 can be efficiently charged.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an electric circuit configuration when using the regenerative power with the load 101 as a motor. After the energization of the motor which is the load 101 is stopped, the regenerative power generated while the motor is rotating with the inertial force can be charged in the secondary battery 107 of the charging unit 104. Whether to charge can be selected by the output signal / BAT_IN of the control unit 100. That is, when the motor drive output signal / DRV is Low, the motor is in the drive state, so / BAT_IN is set to High output (108 is off). When / DRV is High output (when motor energization is stopped), by setting / BAT_IN to Low output (108 is ON), the regenerated power generated can be supplied to the charging unit 104 via 108.

  In addition, when the power from the charging / discharging unit 104 is supplied to the driving circuit unit 102, such as the boosting unit 105 shown in FIGS. It is also possible to add a configuration that raises. Furthermore, when the regenerative voltage is equal to or lower than a predetermined voltage when charging the regenerative power from the load 101, such as the booster 105 shown in FIG. You can also.

1 is a diagram illustrating an image forming apparatus and a paper discharge apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is an electric block diagram concerning the example of the present invention. It is a figure showing the electric circuit structure concerning the Example of this invention. It is an electric block diagram concerning the example of the present invention. It is a figure showing the electric circuit structure concerning the Example of this invention. It is an electric block diagram concerning the example of the present invention. It is a figure showing the electric circuit structure concerning the Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 2 Paper discharge apparatus 10 Sheet 100 Control part 101 Load 102 Drive circuit part 103 Power supply part 104 Charging / discharging part 105 Boosting part

Claims (6)

A switching means provided between a secondary battery and an actuator, for switching between charging of the back electromotive force or regenerative power from the actuator to the secondary battery and discharging from the secondary battery;
An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit that controls the switching unit according to a charged state of the secondary battery and an operating state of the actuator. In claim 1,
The control means includes a voltage detection means for the secondary battery, and refers to a detection result of the voltage detection means at a timing when the actuator is turned on or off to determine whether to perform switching by the switching means. An image forming apparatus characterized by determining. In claim 2,
Boosting means for boosting the discharge voltage from the secondary battery;
The control means refers to the detection result of the voltage detection means, and boosts the discharge voltage from the secondary battery by the boosting means when the voltage of the secondary battery is less than or equal to the driveable voltage of the actuator. An image forming apparatus. In claim 2 or 3,
Boosting means for boosting the charging voltage to the secondary battery;
The image forming apparatus, wherein the control unit boosts a charging voltage from the actuator to the secondary battery by the boosting unit. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 4,
The image forming apparatus, wherein the actuator is provided in an optional device. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 5,
2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the secondary battery is an electric double layer capacitor.

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